Jackson-Stops commuter hotspots 2019

Jackson-Stops reveals its top 2019 commuter hotspots

Nick Leeming, Chairman of Jackson-Stops, provides insight into the estate agents’ latest commuter hotspots research.

Rail disruption dominated headlines throughout 2018 as poor rail services and timetable chaos affected commuters across the country. However, despite this, rail fares still increased at the beginning of January by, on average, a further 3.1%.

Those looking to move this year will be carefully considering a raft of factors, from the impact of Brexit to the average house price of an area – but for those commuters amongst us - the time, cost and reliability associated with travelling into a city by train will be a key concern. Therefore, our new research has set out to identify the top locations within the commuter belts of London, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham, based on a range of considerations from annual house price growth to the speed of journey.

Luton retains its title as London’s commuter hotspot for 2019

Luton in Bedford retained its title as London’s ‘number one’ commuter location after being crowned the winner last year. With an average house price of £253,998 and trains to London taking as little as 27 minutes, Luton continues to offer affordable housing and a higher quality commute than other locations on London’s fringe. With the Bedfordshire town benefitting from £1.5 billion of onward investment over the next 20 years, we can only expect Luton to continue being a key spot for commuters and investors alike.

Commuter hotspots outside London

This year, we also analysed locations surrounding Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol to reveal the top commuter locations for each of these key cities.

Gatley takes the top spot in Manchester

An analysis of locations ranging from Altrincham to Warrington, found that Gatley, which sits in the metropolitan borough of Stockport, ranked as the top spot for those commuting into Manchester. With annual house price growth of eight per cent, journey times of just 16 minutes into the city and a strong rail performance rating, Gatley reigns just above Stalybridge and Ashton-under-Lyne in Tameside in the rankings.

Avonmouth named Bristol’s top commuter hotspots

With an exceptionally low annual season ticket of £360, Avonmouth, a port and outer suburb of Bristol, has beaten Newport and Somerset to become our top commuter hotspot for Bristol city centre commuters. Here, commuters can make annual savings of up to £2,328 on their season ticket compared to Newport.

Bromsgrove and Tamworth joint winners for Birmingham

In our analysis of areas surrounding Birmingham, we found that Bromsgrove in Worcestershire and Tamworth in Staffordshire ranked in joint first position as the top commuter hotpots for the city. The town of Bromsgrove, which is 13 miles south-west of Birmingham city centre, ranked highly as a result of its short 26 minute journey time, parking charges of £360 and its strong annual property price growth. Despite parking and annual season ticket costs being higher in Tamworth, the Staffordshire town’s average property price is almost £55,000 cheaper and it benefits from journey times as quick as 16 minutes.